Yesterday fourteen DAC Sailors came along for our Scratch sailing day.

The conditions were somewhat different to recent times. We contended with a varying light Westerly breeze with speeds from zilch up to 23 Km/Hr, (0 to 12 Knots) and enjoyed temps in the mid-20s.

For the first time in a while, we all chose “A” sails for the whole day’s racing.

Apart from the winner and place-getters, the scoresheet looked more like a Handicap rather than a Scratch day. The spread of points was minimal right down the page. It is fair to say that any Sailor on their day can score well in this highly competitive fleet.

Graham Brown, again demonstrated his dominance in all conditions with 5 wins and 2 second places. Graham won the day by a landslide. Philip Hetherington and Phil Stevenson were the main challengers. Philip H. scoring 2 wins and mostly places to take second spot. Phil S., despite one or two unusually late starts still managed 3 places and all high finishes to comfortably secure third. Richard Thorpe, who is relatively new to RC sailing put his past boat problems behind him and enjoyed most of his racing in the front group. Richard took fourth place to head the remaining boats in a closely scoring day. Noel McPherson was able to keep clear of almost all tangles and with 2 places, joined the front group. Judy Evans has #319 sailing nicely and with a comfortable win in Race 1, spent much time towards the front. Brendan Hones started slowly, but scored well towards the end of racing. Barry McCarthy won Race 4 to give him some joy for his long drive home.

The sailing was challenging in the light conditions, but everyone dealt with what we had, and well deserved their wins and high finishes.

Race winners were Graham Brown 5, Philip Hetherington 2, Judy Evans 1 and Barry McCarthy 1.

Graham Brown took the honours for the day to win 1st place on 9 points.

Philip Hetherington finished in 2nd place on 20 points.

Phil Stevenson finished in 3rd place also with 25 points.

The Club Championship now has Noel McPherson in front from Graham Brown and Phil Stevenson.

Our next Sail day is Thursday for a Scratch Event.

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